I've played with the mechanic a bit now and in my opinion it's not working as well as it could. Everything can always be bought and the price; I don't usually even look at, it doesn't really show me, if right now there is a demand and high price or the opposite. There are no charts showing how the price changed or any red number saying "This is 0.59 energy credit more expensive" (+0.59) or green "It's 1.23 energy credits cheaper" (-1.23). The price is there and I can calculate, if it's overpriced or not, but the game could really do it for me and present easily readable data.
Why bother looking at most of the time? You can buy any resource you want and instantly get it. It's not that well designed, because using the Market means just auto buying anything you lack at the moment. Perhaps addition of travel time it takes for resources to arrive/be sold could improve it.
The supply is infinite. This one I think should be changed by a game setting. There really isn't much of a strategic game, if at any point you can sell something you have too much of and buy something you lack. The only difference is it's price, but who cares about +/- 100 energy, if there is something reaching 0 (or even a resource you just can't be bothered to wait for). The Market is always there, always providing anything you might need.
In my opinion there should either be a full economy run by Galactic Empires or have some values, that the supply will be building to on Local Markets and then just merge into one big Supply once the Galactic Market is established. For example an empire would be able to buy (let's say) 4 years of it's resource production at any point, but it would drain the supply and it would need to rebuild. Then the Galactic Market becomes a thing and (either modified or the same) Local ones merge into one; now anyone can buy these minerals, but at the same time it would be possible to just run out of something in Galaxy. If nobody sells and someone buys all, then there shouldn't be anything left, right?
Now to why I think it's not good as it is. It's too easy. There isn't any strategic thinking to the Market. You need something, you buy it. A galaxy is in a state of "War in Heaven"? Buy alloys, surely nobody else needs them, but your energy credits are of great value.
Why bother looking at most of the time? You can buy any resource you want and instantly get it. It's not that well designed, because using the Market means just auto buying anything you lack at the moment. Perhaps addition of travel time it takes for resources to arrive/be sold could improve it.
The supply is infinite. This one I think should be changed by a game setting. There really isn't much of a strategic game, if at any point you can sell something you have too much of and buy something you lack. The only difference is it's price, but who cares about +/- 100 energy, if there is something reaching 0 (or even a resource you just can't be bothered to wait for). The Market is always there, always providing anything you might need.
In my opinion there should either be a full economy run by Galactic Empires or have some values, that the supply will be building to on Local Markets and then just merge into one big Supply once the Galactic Market is established. For example an empire would be able to buy (let's say) 4 years of it's resource production at any point, but it would drain the supply and it would need to rebuild. Then the Galactic Market becomes a thing and (either modified or the same) Local ones merge into one; now anyone can buy these minerals, but at the same time it would be possible to just run out of something in Galaxy. If nobody sells and someone buys all, then there shouldn't be anything left, right?
Now to why I think it's not good as it is. It's too easy. There isn't any strategic thinking to the Market. You need something, you buy it. A galaxy is in a state of "War in Heaven"? Buy alloys, surely nobody else needs them, but your energy credits are of great value.
